Status and challenges of green manufacturing: Comparative analysis of China and other countries

Abstract

Energy-intensive manufacturing is a major source of GHG emissions and environmental impacts. Countries in the world are all facing challenges in green manufacturing transformation. The conceptual evolution and actual implementation of green manufacturing in China and other countries show some similarities but also discrepancy. This paper describes the green manufacturing system in China from four aspects: green factory, green product, green park and green supply chain. The comparison of the four aspects is carried out between China and world's major economics including Europe, the United States, Japan, etc. Our results show that the common challenges among countries in the process of promoting green manufacturing are absent of corresponding product baseline standards in evaluating green products and no sufficient life cycle planning within plant boundaries. China is faced with specific challenges that there is no clear green product evaluation standards in life cycle assessment methods, system boundaries and life cycle stages of products. Other countries such as Germany and the United States are faced with challenges that there is a lack of environmental and performance evaluation as well as concrete implementation of life cycle evaluation within the factory boundary, and that there is difficulty for the national manufacturing industry chain to achieve a closed loop since industrial migration. We suggest that China draw lessons from the European Union, the United States and Japan in the elaborate methods design of green products assessment. As such, China's green factory assessment framework and strict government guidance can be a reference for other countries.